Problems using heavier thread & a little story
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Problems using heavier thread & a little story 123joan 11-19-2006
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Posted by 123joan on November 19, 2006, 11:44 am
I bought some "heavy duty extra strong for jeans, dual duty plus"
thread to use on the hems of jeans that I'm shortening. I cannot get
the tension right, it looks horrible. Is there some trick to this? I
don't want to wreck my machine, I think I'll have to go back to using
plain old thread. Any suggestions or warnings? I have a Singer 401A
that was miraculously brought back to life courtesy of your forum and
Ron Anderson's detailed and illustrated instructions.

Oh, a bonus. A friend of mine dropped by in the middle of a roman
shades project, and noticed my machine. She said that she had her mom's
old machine in the car, she was going to get rid of it, and it looked
similar to mine. She brought it in the house, it'a 403A and she gave it
to me! She never ever used it. She was on her way to throw it out! It
did have the sme problem my own machine had, so it was great that I
knew exactly how to fix it.

I gave it to my daughter, who is THRILLED of course. She was using a
horrible plastic Brother machine she bought at Wal-Mart.
Joan


Posted by BEI Design on November 19, 2006, 1:00 pm

>I bought some "heavy duty extra strong for jeans, dual duty
>plus"
> thread to use on the hems of jeans that I'm shortening. I
> cannot get
> the tension right, it looks horrible. Is there some trick to
> this?

I have had the same difficulty, no matter what size needle I used
I could not get the heavy duty thread to feed properly through
the needle, and no fiddling with the tension improved matters.

My solution was to use the heavy-duty topstitching thread on the
*bobbin only*, then *loosen* the bobbin tension (turn that tiny
screw on the front of the bobbin case 1/2 turn *counter
clockwise*), and use regular thread in the needle, but *tighten*
the needle tension to 6-7. Test on scraps, to get the right
combination of tension.

I stitch jeans hems with the wrong side uppermost (so I can see
the edge of the hem), so the bobbin thread is on the *outside* of
the hem. If you sew the hem with the outside uppermost, you
would want to reverse/ignore these instructions. Remember when
you are done to re-set the bobbin tension to normal.

HTH,

Beverly



Posted by 123joan on November 20, 2006, 4:08 pm
I decided to use plain old thread, I was spending way too much time on
a $14.99 pair of jeans! Thank you all for your suggestions and tips. I
have NEVER adjusted the bobbin tension and am scared to death to touch
that screw! I do sew the hems with the wrong side uppermost, so I can
see where I'm going. To make matters worse, the jeans have a "touch" of
lycra, which makes the task even stickier. Jeans are done, in the
washer. Until next time.....
>
> I have had the same difficulty, no matter what size needle I used
> I could not get the heavy duty thread to feed properly through
> the needle, and no fiddling with the tension improved matters.
>
> My solution was to use the heavy-duty topstitching thread on the
> *bobbin only*, then *loosen* the bobbin tension (turn that tiny
> screw on the front of the bobbin case 1/2 turn *counter
> clockwise*), and use regular thread in the needle, but *tighten*
> the needle tension to 6-7. Test on scraps, to get the right
> combination of tension.
>
> I stitch jeans hems with the wrong side uppermost (so I can see
> the edge of the hem), so the bobbin thread is on the *outside* of
> the hem. If you sew the hem with the outside uppermost, you
> would want to reverse/ignore these instructions. Remember when
> you are done to re-set the bobbin tension to normal.
>
> HTH,
>
> Beverly


Posted by BEI Design on November 20, 2006, 4:28 pm
123joan wrote:
> I decided to use plain old thread, I was spending way too
> much time on a $14.99 pair of jeans! Thank you all for
> your suggestions and tips. I have NEVER adjusted the
> bobbin tension and am scared to death to touch that
> screw!

LOL! It's not going to bite you. ;-> If you turn it a "quarter
turn" one direction, all you have to do is remember to turn it a
quarter turn back when you want to return to the original
setting. Left is *loosen*, right is *tighten*. Really,
sometimes adjusting the bobbin tension is the only thing which
works.

> I do sew the hems with the wrong side uppermost,
> so I can see where I'm going. To make matters worse, the
> jeans have a "touch" of lycra, which makes the task even
> stickier. Jeans are done, in the washer. Until next
> time.....

Congrats!

Beverly



Posted by Joy on November 21, 2006, 9:50 pm
> I
> have NEVER adjusted the bobbin tension and am scared to death to touch
> that screw!

One suggestion that comes up is to get an extra bobbin case and adjust the
tension. Mark the bobbin cases with nail polish. So you can just switch
bobbin cases when you need the looser tension, with no fear of messing up
the original. Of course this only worth while for something you will be
doing from time to time.

Joy



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